Friday, July 15, 2011

Backpedalling in Maine

Here's what journalists call the "lede" from Kate Petersen's interview with Democratic state Rep. Sharon Treat: "The new Republican governor and majority in the Maine Legislature have together now repealed not only the state’s gift disclosure law, but nearly every progressive prescription drug policy we have, including our pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) law, and pricing transparency. This is not surprising as there are very close ties between the pharmaceutical industry and the Republican party in Maine. None of these laws were easy to pass in the legislature even when Democrats had the majority, because the drug industry is very powerful when it comes to influencing politicians."